A young mother who grabbed her victim by her ponytail on Busker Brown’s dance floor and bit her twice in the face was asked by a Judge if she would like something like this to happen when her children were socialising in the city when they were older.
Before Judge Liz Healy at Galway District Court was Shauna Leonard, currently in homeless accommodation, charged with assault on the night of October 23, 2014 at the Cross Street venue.
The Court was told that Leonard and her victim were not know to each other but had been out socialising and had exchanged pleasantries before Leonard grabbed her by the ponytail on the dancefloor and bit her twice on the right side of her face.
A victim impact statement was handed in to the Judge as well as photographs of the injuries suffered. No medical attention was sought after the incident which was unexpected and came out of the blue the Court was told. The defendant had seven previous convictions, five for road traffic offences and two for public order.
Martina Moran solr (defending ) said her client was 29 and agreed that her behaviour on the night was “certainly not ladylike.”
He client had two children aged eight and nine and she was extremely embarrassed by what had occurred. A large amount of alcohol and been consumed she added.
Leonard was extremely remorseful but was dealing with the break-up of a relationship and the loss of her home at the time.
Her client had hope to have some compensation to offer to her victim but she was on social welfare and because of her homelessness she had certain expenses to meet. She was hoping to get on a CE scheme.
“It was horrendous for this to happen to anyone on a night out,” Ms Moran said and she added that her client was happy to seen from the victim impact report read by the Judge that her victim was “back on track.”
Summing up Judge Healy said this was just distressing behaviour and if the defendant was mortified then so she should be.
“You don’t want your own kids to grow up in a place where things like this happen,” she said. The Judge thanked the victim for being present in Court and her impact statement, and she was glad to note that she said this was not going to define her.
She said some sort of restorative justice should come into play here and adjourned sentencing until November 11 and ordered the preparation of a Probation Report.
